Knitting with lace weight yarn

I have never knitted with lace weight yarn before. I just started a shawl using Kauni lace weight yarn. Although it is knitting up beautifully, the yarn is so thin in places that it breaks. I am trying to be very careful not to tug on the yarn. This has happened several times already, and I don’t think I have the patience to deal with this problem throughout the project. Is this often a problem with lace weight yarn? Am I doing something wrong, or is the yarn defective?:?? I am making the Swallowtail shawl using size 4 needles, if that makes a difference.

Some yarns are more fragile than others. I’m not sure if this one is, or if you have a bad skein.

Kauni makes a couple lace weight yarns. Which one do you have?

Even if you are not tugging on the yarn, you can get a lot of friction if your skein/ball is on a rough surface (fabric, upholstery, carpet). Make sure your skein/ball is on a surface with as little friction as possible (bowl, plastic bag) and as close to your side as possible.

It’s 8/1 100% wool. The colors are lovely!

Thanks! I’ll try that.

There’s only 3 comments on the yarn on Ravelry and all 3 say it breaks so you’re not alone. :shrug:

Thanks for checking that, Jan. I should have thought to do that before I ordered the yarn! I just wasn’t sure if that was a common problem with lace weight yarn. I have seen a few projects on Ravelry knitted with “cobweb” yarn. I can’t even imagine how thin that stuff must be! I have knitted a shawl using Kauni fingering weight (8/2 if I remember correctly). The shawl turned out lovely, but the yarn became very thin in places. Still, it never broke. Oh, well… Thanks for everyone’s advice!

It’s not common with laceweights, just seems to be a Kauni problem in general if the fingering was a bit thin too.

One project I’m knitting right now is with Ella Rae Lace Merino. It’s actually fingering weight, but it’s spun evenly and is so soft and beautiful! :inlove:

I’ve knit with lots of different lace weight yarns and never had this problem. Sometimes I’m surprised at just how strong they are.